‘I’ll tell you,’ said Parfit. ‘Or rather, I’ll tell you my interpretation. The coffin isn’t buried yet – not quite. But they know we’re getting close. They’ll put a ring of steel around Buchan, but they can’t stop Zephyr spying on them from space. That’s why they went to an extraordinary amount of effort to nobble it. But because we’re closing in, they want to make doubly sure, so they’re sending the sky-watchers home until the burial’s complete. That means there’s still time for an exhumation.’

‘Fine,’ said Dreyfuss coolly. ‘So what do we do?’

Parfit turned to Farquharson, his eyes asking the same question.

‘We wait.’ Farquharson saw that Hepton was about to protest and hurried on. ‘We wait until we see what information comes back from Buchan. If there’s enough to present to the PM, then I’ll arrange a meeting.’

‘And if there isn’t?’ There seemed no ready answer to Hepton’s question. He repeated it.

Farquharson looked to Parfit, but Parfit’s face was a blank.

‘We’ve got video tapes,’ Hepton continued. ‘Don’t they count as evidence?’

‘They indicate that something’s going on,’ said Parfit quietly, ‘not what that something is.’

‘You mean they’re not enough?’

‘What do you think?’

Hepton considered. The tapes suddenly seemed very small in comparison to the scale of the conspiracy.

Dreyfuss was shaking his head. ‘You’re going to let them get away with it,’ he said bluntly.

Farquharson slapped the desk. ‘Get away with what exactly? We don’t know what’s happening, do we?’

But Dreyfuss only smiled, as if to say: I’ve got a damn good idea.

33

The first report arrived just after they’d eaten a lunch of sandwiches and tea. The tea came in disposable beakers, which was a relief to Hepton, who had feared the offer of one of the mouldy mugs. He was finishing his last cheese sandwich when the telephone rang. Parfit, himself still chewing, picked up the receiver.

‘Yes?’ he said. He listened, his eyes fixed to the wall in front of him. ‘Is that everything?’ he said finally. ‘Thank you.’ He replaced the receiver in its cradle and swallowed some tea.

‘Well?’ asked Farquharson.

‘That was our man in Buchan. He’s been past the base. Heavily guarded, and not very subtly. He stopped to ask why, and was told that there had been anonymous threats concerning the pull-out. He says there is a pull-out taking place, but there’s also a lot of work going on. He thought perhaps they were busy dismantling something.’

‘Dismantling something?’ Farquharson repeated. ‘What sort of thing?’

Parfit shrugged his shoulders. ‘He couldn’t be sure that it was dismantling.’

‘So it could be building work then?’ said Hepton.

‘Building work?’ Farquharson sounded sceptical. ‘But that would be noticeable, wouldn’t it?’

‘Not if it was underground,’ said Hepton. ‘As in “burial”.’